Engineering firm Jarvis has angered the mother of a Potters Bar rail crash victim by offering almost £1 million in bonuses to its executives.

Diana Fischer-Schickler, of Highgate Road, Forest Row, said the huge payouts made the company's apology over her son Jonael's death meaningless.

The firm, which formally accepted liability for victims' claims in respect of the crash, admitted paying executives the bonuses for the year in which the rail crash occurred.

Mrs Fischer-Schickler told the Argus: "I'm angry about this. First of all they tried to pass it off as sabotage, which still rankles with me, and then they didn't admit liability for a long time.

"Now they are trying to pay us the minimum legal compensation of just £10,000 for each relative.

"They have now belatedly apologised for what happened in the crash but it makes it more difficult to accept when you hear about these huge payouts."

Poor track maintenance by the company has been blamed for causing the crash in May 2002 which killed seven people including Jonael, a 25-year-old Cambridge graduate.

The company has revealed that six executives, five of whom have now left the company, were awarded £807,000 in bonuses for the year to March 31, 2003.

Details of the handouts were buried in the footnotes to the former rail contractor's latest annual report. The payments were suspended in the wake of the 2002 crash as they were considered "inappropriate".

Jarvis denied responsibility for the crash and initially blamed sabotage. But in April this year the company formally accepted liability for victims' claims in respect of the crash, alongside Railtrack's successor, Network Rail.

Mrs Fischer-Schickler and other families were fighting for a better payout.

A spokesman for Jarvis said: "At the time, we said it wasn't appropriate to pay bonuses.

"However, the directors had met the criteria for performance, so the company was obliged to pay them."

A spokesman for Network Rail confirmed a final Health and Safety Executive report on the cause of the accident was outstanding. British Transport Police are still investigating the crash.